Question Details
There are some students who I find myself snapping it. I am struggling to remain tolerant with these few.
Answer
When you are new to teaching, it can be easy to focus on the negative with students. You might be feeling stressed and that you are being judged if they are not doing what they should be doing. Students will never be perfect all the time, but most want to be liked, and some just want attention.
I had a student who I had been warned was naughty, so I gave him tasks to do for me – he became my monitor, and enjoyed doing tasks, and so I could give him attention for positive behaviour rather than negative.
I sometimes find it helps to remember that they are babies – you know much more than them. Might it help to sit the class (or the students concerned) down and revisit your expectations? Really praise their good behaviour strongly and get them to share and articulate why it is important to stop the behaviour you don’t want to see.(because it stops them learning/upsets other people etc). Maybe end by considering what the class will look like when everyone is behaving perfectly.
It might be worth paying attention to when the student(s) are misbehaving. Is it during a particular lesson/activity/time of day? If you identify a pattern, it could help with solving the problem. For example, if it always seems to be during a maths lesson, is this because the student is struggling with this particular subject area? And if so, what could you do,as the teacher, to support them through this, before they become unsettled or disruptive? In this case, it might be more scaffolding that they need or an opportunity to check in with the teacher before the start working. By understanding the students motivation, it will help you be more empathetic and more patient.